Editor's Note: During the last two months, academic institutions throughout the United States celebrated, with traditional pomp and circumstance, the graduation of the class of 1991. Those graduates who have chosen to pursue science careers are coming into the field at what may well be the most exciting time to do so--when new developments in such disciplines as molecular biology and neuroscience make possible investigations that were unthinkable a mere decade ago, and crises like AIDS and the depletion of the ozone layer pose new challenges to the inquisitive researcher. They also are coming into science at a time when the drying up of the research funding pool and an increasingly tighter job market (see story on page 1) are sure to present significant obstacles.

At their commencement ceremonies, many schools bestowed one of their most cherished awards, the honorary doctorate, on a wide range of luminaries, including prominent scientists...

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